Monday 4th May 2026
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Cole-ossal victory for OUSU Kate

Felix Pope
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Cole-ossal victory for OUSU Kate

Kate Cole has been elected as Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) President for 2017-18 with 2,252 first-preference votes, beating her sole rival Vivian Holmes.

This amounts to just 10 per cent of the total student population, but is higher than the 6.3 per cent achieved by last year’s winning candidate, Jack Hampton.

Overall 4,454 students voted—a record turnout of 19 per cent, and an increase of 42 per cent on last year. OUSU held a results party in Oxford restaurant The Jam Factory to announce the results, featuring live music and entertainment.

Over one thousand people were invited to the Facebook event. A few dozen attended. Two notable absences were both Presidential candidates.

Cole’s #takeACTion slate, which promised fairer treatment for suspended students and improved policy on mental health, won three out of five sabbatical roles.

Following her victory she said: “Massive thanks to the opposition Vivian, you have been a great opposition and a great friend. I’m so glad that I’ve made a friend out of this process.

“To every person who has voted, sent us lovely well wishes, and put up with our relentless Facebook posturing. We couldn’t be more grateful.”

Fellow #takeACTion slate member Katy Haigh was elected VP for Women. Shortly after the results were announced she told Cherwell: “Thank you to everyone who voted for the ACTion slate, to those of you who supported our campaign, and to our competitors for always being pleasant and professional during this election.

“I am so excited to work with those who identify as women in the next academic year as their representative and I’m confident that I can provide support for all students across oxford no matter what they may be going through.

Katy Haigh took VP for Women, and Catherine Canning won the VP for Access and Academic Affairs unopposed. Canning told Cherwell: “I am so grateful to everyone that voted. I look forward to representing the students of Oxford and being their voice in vital discussions regarding improving access and academic issues.

“I want OUSU to be accountable, consistent and transparent next year and for all Oxford students. We have a fabulous team and I look forward to working with them.”

The ‘Stand Up For Oxford’ slate of failed Presidential candidate Vivian Holmes took control of two sabbatical positions.

Tom Barringer was elected unopposed as VP for Charities and Communities. Farheen Ahmed will become VP for Welfare and Equal Opportunities.

‘Stand Up For Oxford’ told Cherwell: “We as a campaign are very pleased that the turnout this year was 40% higher than the year before. The increased level of student engagement makes makes us optimistic about the future of OUSU elections, and hopeful for an even higher turnout next time.

“We are thrilled that Farheen Ahmed was elected, and are excited for the brilliant work she will carry out as VP Welfare and Equal Opportunities. We congratulate her, and Tom Barringer, Niamh White, and Ellie MacDonald for their victories.

“We are sorry we won’t be able to put forward the vision we had for OUSU, but we congratulate the rest of the candidates who were elected for their success.”

‘Wake Up, NUS’, a slate campaigning for structural reform of the NUS after Oxford voted to remain affiliated last year, won two NUS delegate places with candidates Lucasta Bath and Adam Hilsenrath.

Hilsenrath told Cherwell: “I am of course proud and humbled that I won the vote of 692 of my fellow students, and look forward to representing them along with my fellow slate member Lucasta Bath at the NUS conference.

“Unfortunately, I will not be joined by Tom or Baruch, the other fantastic candidates on our slate. Nonetheless, we will look to fight for a more representative, welcoming NUS, and hold it to account to remove the anti-semitism and racism within its ranks.”

Tom Turner, the aforementioned ‘Wake Up NUS’ candidate who failed in his bid to win election as a delegate, said: “I’m happy that two of our candidates got on, and I look forward to seeing them do a fantastic job.

“Obviously I’m disappointed to not get on, though as long as my values get a voice at conference I don’t really mind who’s expressing them.”

An affiliate with the ‘Wake Up NUS’ slate was Alex Curtis of ‘Wake Up OUSU’ who was voted onto the position of Student Trustee, alongside Oliver Rice and Tarak Nath Gorai.

Sean O’Neil and Aliya Yule were elected as NUS delegates from the ‘Count On Us’ slate. They describe themselves as standing “for welfare, for education, for liberation”, but controversially refused at hustings to vow to vote against a hypothetical reelection of Malia Bouattia, the divisive President of the NUS who has previously been condemned as an anti-semite.

Yule argued that Bouattia had issued a further apology for her alleged anti-Semitic comments, and thus could not be discounted off-hand.

Following the announcement of the results, Yule told Cherwell: “It’s the overwhelming vote to stay in NUS and this election that shows that Oxford students want to stay in the NUS and fight to make it different.”

The other NUS delegates elected were Lucasta Bath, Niamh White, Adam Hilsenrath, and Ellie MacDonald. Teddy Hall recorded the highest college turnout, winning £600, with Wadham in second.

Additional reporting by Lucy Enderby, Jack Hunter, Maxim Parr-Reid, and Jessica Voicu.

Somerville elects Baroness Royall as principal

Felix Pope
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Somerville elects Baroness Royall as principal

Somerville College have this morning announced the election of Baroness Royall of Blaisdon as their new principal, replacing the outgoing Dr Alice Prochaska after a seven-year term.

The appointment of a female principal keeps with tradition at the former women’s college, where the role has never been held by a man.

In an email to students Andrew Parker, Chairman of the Selection Committee, described the search as “thorough and exhaustive”. He said that the recruitment consultants Maloney’s had made contact with around 400 potential candidates.

Baroness Royall previously earned praise from members of the Oxford community following the publication of her report into anti-semitism at Oxford University Labour Club. Royall concluded that there was no evidence that the club was institutionally anti-Semitic, but acknowledged a “cultural problem in which behaviour and language that would once have been intolerable is now tolerated”.

Baroness Royall said: “It is a pleasure and a privilege to have been appointed as the next Principal of Somerville. I look forward to working with academics, staff and students to build on the work of Alice Prochaska in this wonderful college where teaching and research of the highest quality are celebrated.

“I am proud that I will be part of a vibrant community that is meeting the challenges of today whilst finding solutions to the problems of tomorrow.

“My aim is to ensure academic excellence whilst reaching out to young people with potential from all backgrounds so that our future leaders will reflect the diversity of our society. I am determined that Somerville’s future will be as exceptional as its past and present.”

Royall began her career in politics working as General Secretary of the British Labour Group in the European Parliament, before returning to the UK to work for leader of the Labour Party Neil Kinnock. She went on to work for the EU in various capacities before being made a Lord in 2004.

It was in this capacity that she became a Privy Councillor, Chief Whip in the Lords, a member of the cabinet, and Leader of the Opposition in the Lords. She has announced that she will not seek reelection to that role.

Royall’s selection comes as a relief to those concerned that a man had been shortlisted for the position.

Alex Crichton-Miller, president of Somerville JCR, told Cherwell before the announcement: “Given that there are several colleges in Oxford that have only ever been led by men, there were some members of the Common Room who felt strongly that Somerville ought to continue to have a female principal.

“This point was made, clearly, on the basis that the proposed female candidate possesses all other required qualities for the leadership role.

“Others held the view that it would be unjustified to discriminate on the basis of the candidate’s gender, even in the case of positive action.”

Of the 38 Oxford colleges just nine—Green Templeton, Mansfield, Oriel, Pembroke, St Anthony’s, St Hugh’s, St John’s, Somerville, and Wolfson—currently have female heads of colleges.

Somerville, a women’s college until 1994, became the only college in Oxford that has solely had female leadership when St Hilda’s appointed its first male principal in 2014.

In conversation with Loyle Carner

Ben Warren
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In conversation with Loyle Carner

Hailing from Croydon, South London, Benjamin Coyle-Larner is better known to the public as Loyle Carner. His brand of what the Guardian has called “awkwardly confessional hip-hop” has been steadily making waves on the scene ever since he released his first EP, A Little Late, in September 2014. Its combination of emotional intimacy and often soft, seductive beats garnered the rapper a devoted following and a fair amount of attention from music publications.

Following the critically acclaimed reception of his debut album, Yesterday’s Gone, Loyle continues to impress with a distinctive emotionally charged sound that retains its charm whilst still managing to excite.

On top of his album, he tells me he’s also recently been involved with an issue close to his heart. Namely, the ‘Chilli Con Carner’ initiative he ran with the Goma Collective last summer, which aimed to teach kids with ADHD how to cook. He insists, however, that he “didn’t want it to get involved with the music at all”, clarifying “I didn’t want kids who were into me and my music, just kids that liked to cook”.

On the subject of the musical touchstones he turned to when making the album, Loyle cites Bob Marley and Mos Def as the major influences to his sound, but also a more contemporary base: “Tom Misch and Rebel Kleff…They’re the guys I’m listening to at the moment. My brother keeps my ear to [new music], put me onto Logic” (Logic; the man signed to Def Jam in 2013 who described himself as hip-hop’s “Young Sinatra”).

Our conversation about musical contemporaries or predecessors inevitably turns to the subject of family. When I ask what his childhood musical memories were, he points to a variety of influence as a result of familial music tastes: “I guess I used to bring a lot of hip-hop home and my mum and dad played a lot of folk and stuff”. He refers to his current and past musical tastes as a “fairly eclectic mix”, and this comes across in the sonic diversity of his own compositions.

Album-opener and single, ‘The Isle of Arran’, is a good example—Carner’s direct but instinctively likeable sentimentality is coupled with a majestic gospel sample to create perhaps one of his most immediate and powerful tracks.

Family is at the centre of Loyle’s music and he admits that his lyrical focus on it “comes naturally” to him. The sixth track on the Yesterday’s Gone, the 30-second, spoken-word interlude ‘Swear’ records a conversation between Loyle and his mother, where they fondly argue about each other’s swearing. It’s unexpectedly intimate and genuine, a real-life conversation on which the listener eavesdrops, but it sits comfortably next to the intricate wordplay of his lyrics.

This concern with the everyday and the familiar, along with an emotional honesty and rawness that is almost uncomfortable in the way that the most intense conversations with a close friend are, combine to create his sound.

When I ask him how important he considers the vulnerability he exposes himself to in his lyrical candour, he claims that it is “massively important” and that, especially in regard to masculinity, being emotionally open is “not as embarrassing as you think”.

His sound translates particularly well to live shows which he says he “always enjoys…I think they’re so necessary” perhaps because his emotional honesty is never more evident than when he’s playing to a live crowd.

Carner is playing in Oxford again at the O2 Academy after a sellout success at the Bullingdon in September last year.

Infinitely listenable when on record, it is in a live venue that Loyle Carner really comes alive. It is when he’s in the same room as the people who are listening to his lyrics, when he is looking at them and performing to them with the same mixture of humility and confidence, that the emotional rawness and domestic sentimentality of his music is so powerful: “When I’m playing to hundreds of people in a room, I want it to be just like talking to your auntie and uncle”.

Spotlight: The Lemon Twigs

Natalia Bus
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Spotlight: The Lemon Twigs

A mixture of The Beatles’ charm and The Beach Boys’ harmonies, The Lemon Twigs are refreshingly current considering their music channels mainly 60s baroque rock.

The frontmen of the band are the D’Addario brothers, who appear as strange as they are wonderful. Their recently released debut, Do Hollywood, is impressive to say the least.

‘Haroomata’ is a highlight—dominated by vintage synths, the track fluctuates between Michael D’Addario’s tender, stripped-back delivery and Broadway-esque instrumentals.

The long-play overflows with classic influences, from the melodramatic guitars of Queen, to hints of early Beatles in the much quieter, punctuated piano and undulating vocals of ‘How Lucky Am I?’.

The Lemon Twigs manage to fit 60 years of musical genius into a 43-minute album and present it almost as a demo recorded in someone’s front room.

Their sound is a dose of authenticity in a world where authenticity is increasingly hard to come by and their sophisticated musical arrangements will have you shell-shocked these kids haven’t even reached their 20s.

Home is where the art is: Kingsley Ng

Queenie Li
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Home is where the art is: Kingsley Ng

Even for people with the least art literacy, it is unlikely for them to conclude contemporary art merely being created within traditional means such as paintings and sculptures today. Art has been striving to excite the world and break convention in all pluralistic means. Installation, performance, site-specific art, digital art, to name but a few. Art needs to be stimulating, shaking, startling in any imaginable form and venue. The prevalence of conceptual art in the mid-1960s placed the focus of art on the process rather than the outcome.

The way of thinking has since then become one of the most powerful tools to conjure up art. After ‘Fountain’ (1917) by the French artist Marcel Duchamp, the definition of art objects has been unprecedentedly widened. A chair, ready-made clocks, unfinished Coke in bottles… one would wonder how far the boundary could possibly extend? Kingsley Ng, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Hong Kong, affirmed that the line could at least be drawn beyond our daily commuting giant, the tram.

‘25 Minutes Older’ (2013) metamorphosed a moving tram into a camera obscura as a witty twist of the everyday object the locals encounter. Shrouding the upper level in absolute darkness, the artist created numerous pinholes across the tram body allowing external light to permeate through, casting a misty inverted image of the exterior environment on the tram’s inner wall. Participants were isolated from the crowd in this 25-minute journey and immersed into the gleaming light whimsically transited from day to night. The sensational experience was further charged by a magnetic reading of the renowned local novelist Liu Yichang’s TêteBêche, which was loaded with rich narratives illustrating the hustling city scenes in Hong Kong while juxtaposing the daily routines of a middle-aged man and a young and vibrant lady. Presented in the Fifth Large-Scale Public Media Arts Exhibition: Human Vibration in 2016 Hong Kong, ‘25 Minutes Older’ is a delicately enchanting art piece intertwining with the immorality of literature and the transformation of daily banality, embodied in Ng’s quote ‘“A city gets old. People get old. Something doesn’t.”

Returning to the column’s title “Home is where the art is”, it seems to be a literal and sharp slogan signifying one of the essences of art—to embrace audience with the sense of belonging and originality grounded to the world through the connection with the art. Yet, it is equally interesting to think from the alternative angle, “Art is where the home is”. Here, the term “home” transcends our physical orientation but the perceptual ideology prevails. In other words, art is a way of seeing, and it is always electrifying to see how artists’ boundless imagination unceasingly inspires us.

Old & New: Young art on old walls

Kate Asquith
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Old & New: Young art on old walls

Somerville may be one of the newer colleges, but in its past 138 years, it’s had more than its fair share of cultural history. Hoping to explore this, the theme of Somerville Arts Festival 2017 is ‘Perspective’, aiming to illuminate the diversity of both our past and our present in ways that are new and exciting.

Many associate our namesake, Mary Somerville, with the sciences, as she was a pioneer in mathematics—but it is worth remembering that she was also an accomplished artist, and many of her landscapes and self-portraits hang proudly on display around the college. In order to honour our artistic heritage, Arts Fest intends to celebrate the talents of current students by finding inspiration in the past.

‘Views from the Ville’ is a new flash fiction initiative being launched to encourage writers to take on the perspective of someone connected with Somerville. This could be a porter, a student turned-war-nurse, a fresher, or even Margaret Thatcher. The extension of empathy is possibly one of the most powerful tools an artist can utilise, which makes our theme of ‘Perspective’ so important. Art can break down the boundaries that divide people—whether those erected through differences in gender, race, sexuality, or time. With this in mind, we’re welcoming back past students to share their experiences of the creative industry. Gillian Cross and Daisy Johnson are both published authors and will read short stories from their collections. This cross generational duo prove that literature can be a unifying force that transcends the separation of time. By exploring new perspectives, we’re giving voices to the unheard. Our visual art zine, named The Siren after the Somerville magazine which was last produced over a decade ago, is paying particular attention to the subversion of traditional narratives and the inclusion of minority perspectives.

In the same spirit, our open mic night encourages everyone to get involved and share their gifts, from music to spoken word and poetry. Fred, a second-year student, says “it’s really exciting to see how talented and creative the people around you are, especially when you aren’t always aware of that on a day-to-day basis”. Likewise, we’ve chosen special acts to showcase the variety and diversity of the university’s talent. Celebrating originality, The Oxford Belles’ a cappella performance embraces music without instruments, putting a fresh spin on old classics and reproducing them with a strong, feminist voice. Similarly, the improvised comedy of the Oxford Imps is wickedly genre-bending, while also embodying a joy for the arts that resonates with the spirit of the festival.

‘Perspective’ is a wide-ranging and far reaching theme, chosen to allow as many people as possible to engage with not only the arts, but also the history of the arts and its untold stories. While we desire the expression of new and alternative points of view, we also hope to find some connection with the past that encompasses that elusive quality that makes Oxford Oxford, a shared sense of identity that exists despite the boundaries of time, through our art.

The Transports at Cecil Sharp House

Ben Ray
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The Transports at Cecil Sharp House

How does one portray the inconceivable on stage? Surely, the only comparison one could draw to describe the feelings of those convicts who were transported to Australia in the late 18th century, never to see England again, is that of a possible expedition to Mars today. A voyage into the unknown with no return ticket.

And yet this huge concept is what ‘The Transports’, this new production at Cecil Sharp House, bravely engages with and explores. Set in London’s home of folk music and brimming with talent with music from the marvellous Faustus, Nancy Kerr, the Young ‘uns and members of Bellowhead, this show is an imaginative and bold retelling of the legendary folk ballads of Peter Bellamy’s original 1977 production. Narrated by the loudly brash Matthew Crampton, the evening follows the true story of two convicts from Norwich jail, Henry and Susanne, who went on to become the founding fathers of Botany Bay’s European settlement. From tender love songs to bawdy ballads and rousing sea shanties, the versatile skills of the various musicians were employed to bring this age-old story of migration, danger and hope to life.

The relevance of this epic story, of lives sacrificed on the way to a completely new world, was not lost on the audience or the cast. Indeed, the second half of the evening opened with a narration of two Syrian brothers attempting to swim across the Bosphorus into Europe in 2015. Many other stories of contemporary migrant strife were told, even leading to a modern folk song describing the migrant experience — proving folk music is still a vital and versatile medium for interpreting current events. The night was twinned the project ‘Parallel Lines’, charting those who once left towns around Britain with those now arriving, thus linking together these migrants into a global community of people that spans time. (This can also just about forgive the almost insultingly brief mention of the aborigine people whose land was stolen by those transported. Even though the night was not about their story, one couldn’t help but think they deserved a bigger mention.) After the final notes had died away in the glorious hall of Cecil Sharp House, the audience was left with the profound feeling that this 200 year old story was still disturbingly relevant to today’s headlines.

Brazilian vis-à-vis

Leila Collins
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Brazilian vis-à-vis

Self-taught photographer Leila captures moments of life with a touch of humour. She attempts to either draw attention to stereotypes by emphasising them or on the other hand, diverting from them by showing things in another light.

Combining photography with anthropology, Leila documents cultures, subcultures and contemporary life as a whole in a sometimes satirical way.

This series was taken in Brazil, during her two-month-long stay there in the summer of 2015. From the beaches of Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro, the megalopolis of São Paulo to Maceio, in the top ten most dangerous cities in the world, these photos illustrate the diversity, landscapes, environments, and people that can be found in this mesmerising country.

 

Review: Dosa Park

Susie Finlay
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Review: Dosa Park

One of my most pressing tasks at the beginning of last term was scouring the internet in search of the best food in Oxford, as is always my custom on arriving in a new city.

A fresher’s library induction or two may have been sacrificed in lieu of a particularly distracting and fruitful restaurant search. But it was only last week that I summoned the courage to make the treacherous journey to the South Indian restaurant Dosa Park, featured in The Guardian’s top ten budget restaurants in Oxford. Nestled between the tackier class of Oxford nightclub, off-licences and a car park, Dosa Park is situated in the deepest and darkest depths of Park End Street. Not the most scenic of locations, and just opposite the station, this is an undeniable trek for most students. So is it worth it?

If you judge your restaurants purely on their aesthetic value, the answer is probably not. That is, unless you harbour a penchant for exposed electrical fittings and kebab-shop style chic. The decor is spartan to say the least. But what Dosa Park might lack in comfort, it makes up for in choice. The menu offers a wealth of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options, from thalis to dosa to boiled eggs, if you’re in the mood for something a little blander.

But casting the eggs to one side, we started with sweet and salty lassis, refreshing and fill- ing enough to constitute a starter. The service was brusque, but efficient. Forthemaincourse, I opted for a plain dosa—as the namesake of the restaurant, this seemed basically obligatory—and saag dhal. The dosa was intimidating large. Even folded over, it appeared to be the size of a small table cloth. But despite the hefty surface area, we devoured it with impressive speed. It was savoury and delicate, crunchy but not dry.

The dhal was also excellent. Fresh and almost creamy, I scooped up the remnants with a corner of the dosa, leaving the bowl spotlessly clean. The meat dishes—butter chicken and chicken jalfrezi—were less remarkable. Tasty enough, but not any more memorable than your standard Indian fare. But as a South Indian restaurant this is hardly surprising. The meal came to around £8 each, including drinks.Stick to the vegetarian dishes, and you’ll come away deeply satisfied. Everyone needs a favourite Indian joint, and this could be yours.

Dosa Park, 25 Park End St, Oxford OX11HU

Debate: Does Oxford foster a sense of community?

Tilly Nevin and Maxim Parr-Reid
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Debate: Does Oxford foster a sense of community?

Yes: Oxford colleges and societies do promote inclusivity, despite what many people expect

Maxim Parr-Reid

When I first considered Oxford, it was a byword for elitism in my mind. ‘Oxford’ to me was indicative of a superior class, and a lifestyle redolent of Brideshead Revisited. Oxford had always been socially remote (in my view at the time).

When I first encountered public schoolboys, I saw their futures as inevitably intertwined with Oxbridge and assumed, wrongly, that it was a toy-town world in which I saw no place for myself or others like me. Up until a year or so before I applied to Oxford, I had resigned myself to the idea that it was for someone else entirely.

I had managed to convince myself that Oxford wasn’t an open place, that it wasn’t a diverse community at all. I genuinely believed that Oxford was the preserve of a small group from a certain type of background. As baseless as these assumptions about Oxford were, I believed them.

My assumptions were unfounded, based largely on viewing Oxford through the lens of the media, and my own misconceived distortions of reality—an idea of a closed crucible that I had allowed to go without refutation for far too long. Part of the magic of Oxford is that it can be whatever we want it to be, but the problem I had with that is that it meant I constructed this world where people like me were airbrushed out and forgotten. That idea could not be further from the truth, as I would discover.

Oxford is an extremely communal place. Even eating in hall provides the opportunity to immerse oneself in a panoply of cultural experiences. I have come to know so many people from abroad: whether this means having breakfast with a Singaporean, or dinner with a Serbian. Being immersed in different cultures and different experience is all part of the shared experience of Oxford. My friends don’t all hail from the shire counties of England, but from Holland and as far away as Colombia in South America. Seldom very few universities allow for such a wide array of cultures to come together.

This coming together manifests itself chiefly in the range of subjects studied. Even my own course, History and Politics, I once believed was the preserve of private school students. I was wrong. I discovered that HisPol and PPE were studied by all sorts of people. I have been pleasantly dazzled by the sheer variation.

Anyone can study any course at Oxford. And your course of study confers upon you so many enriching experiences, each subject representing a tight-knit group where you can feel a real sense of camaraderie. It is true that you can feel swamped by others, jostling for the same academic successes you crave, but ultimately I think we all want one another to grow and flourish, and the rivalry is less pronounced than I myself was expecting.

By extension, this holds true for colleges too. Whichever college you end up at (whether you applied there directly or not) you are instantly made to feel part of a family, and treated with the kindness and respect that that entails. This thriving community of thousands of students is thankfully parcelled out into much more manageable sub-communities of hundreds, and enables you to build up a group of friends more easily. I have often felt quite lonely and isolated but there’s usually always someone in college who will be there for you if times get tough (which, it being Oxford, they often do).

Mental health provision is important in this fostering of community too. Those who feel overwhelmed by the throngs of people they are presented with on a daily basis can sometimes feel just a little daunted. I have found this myself, having to come to terms with the fact that while I may be at one of the best universities in the world, so are 20,000 other people, and it’s impossible to befriend and impress all of them.

I have personally found the Counselling Service and in-college welfare provision to be invaluable, especially this term. Without this close-knit support network, I wouldn’t be writing this article, and would have had to rusticate. This extends to mental issues brought on through academic pressures too.

In every sense I have found Oxford to be a melting pot. Every single one of my expectations about cliques and groups have been confounded. Oxford is a far more open and inclusive environment than I ever could have imagined. The way experiences like hall, matriculation and tutorials work means you feel part of something.

Oxford is so much more than the individual, although individual experiences are important, the ancient traditions and ceremonies make you feel part of a community, part of the legacy of an academic community stretching back nearly 100 years. This community transcends divisions of class, creed and social background.

I genuinely think that Oxford makes its students feel equal and welcome as best it can. This is why the alumni network is so strong. It is that spirit of camaraderie that unites us in this community, a community we will be a part of for the rest of our days, the community that is Oxford University.

Of course, the university could do more to foster a community spirit, but I think it is too easy to say that and dismiss the immense work in fostering friendships and communal ties that the university does.

No: Oxford’s hectic schedule and intense workload makes finding community difficult

Tilly Nevin 

I’m in my second year of Oxford now, and walking back into college after a trip into town or a weekend back home, I feel instantly at ease. I pass people I know, both in my year and those above and below, and I greet scouts and porters who’ve made my years here so much better. I have a group of lovely friends and my college is full of friendly people generally (if very unfriendly, frequently threatening geese), from students to staff. A little removed from town, it provides some calm in the storm with its greenery and modernity.

I’m sure for every person that has been at Oxford for a while—and maybe for some who started only this year—there’s something about their college that makes it ‘home’, even if it’s just a sense of familiarity and routine. Oxford does foster a sense of community in that those in each college—and class— bond over shared stories of awful tutorials and all night essay writing sessions fuelled by Taylor Swift and caffeine, as well as the normal sixth-former- adapting-to-uni experience. But between colleges there’s a distinct lack of community.

Yes, you can discuss the intimidating experience that Oxford inevitably is and yes, you can bond over shared loves like writing or even the different flavours of tea that exist if you’re so inclined. Yet the experience of Oxford varies depending on which college you’re at and any apparent sense of community disappears when you realise you won’t be able to take a break from the busy Oxford schedule to make it across the city. It is near impossible to ensure that you don’t become confined to your own college.

I do have quite a lot of friends at other colleges, who I’ve met through writing for Cherwell or various events, but in the business of the Oxford week it’s a huge—although of course hugely worthwhile—effort to get across town to a different college or to even find a time where everyone’s free to meet up. Though you might want to, especially in first year, it’s difficult not to feel a nagging guilt whenever you’re not cloistered in the library or your room, reading. Although you might see people at society meetings or talks, you might also often find that one of you is rushing off somewhere else.

Nor does everyone feel at home in their college immediately. Oxford follows the doctrine of ‘throw you in at the deep end’ and normal first year anxieties are exacerbated by the extreme competitiveness and insecurities that characterise the Oxford student. This might force you to bond more closely with those in your class or your friendship group, but Oxford can also be an intensely lonely experience, one that puts you in a state of mind in which it’s hard to extend the hand of friendship.

Working on essays alone for hours at a time often makes you feel cut off from college life in general. The rigour and pressure of Oxford can be damaging to your mental health, making the experience here alienating—however welcoming your college really is. For state school students starting at Oxford there’s often a feeling of inadequacy and intimidation. There might be a sense of community for those who start at Oxford with a web of friends scattered across colleges, but for those without there’s only a pervasive sense of isolation.

Some subject year groups are small enough that a definite sense of community is established pretty quickly. In humanities subjects like English, you’re lost in a sea of people in every lecture you attend. Those attending 9am lectures, I quickly realised, are too tired (or hungover) to even exchange snippets of conversation.

This lack of a community feeling is common to quite a few other universities, but at these there aren’t the strict collegiate distinctions—which are fuelled by innovations like the Norrington Table and declarations of war. On the micro-level these don’t really affect the everyday student but they serve as an example for how hard it can be to create a sense of community between the disparate colleges.

Even within colleges there are often divisions which threaten this sense of community; like at every university students inevitably fall out with other students, but in the close-knit, often claustrophobic atmosphere of college, petty disputes can mean alienation from what seems like the ‘rest’ of college. Particularly at smaller colleges, everyone knows everyone else’s business—and whilst this sometimes creates community, it also means its pretty precarious.

It takes a while to create a sense of community here—it can be achieved but it takes effort and time. Oxford doesn’t ‘foster’ community in any sense of the word. It’s what makes it individual and sometimes amazing, because once you have it, you realise that it’s not something that’s going to be lost easily after being so very, very hard to win.

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